



PRESENTED BY 



The Problem of 
Luxemburg 



By 

Xavier Prum, A.M. 

Professor of Mathematics in Dubuque College 



Ube Iknicketrbocl^et: press 

New York 

1919 



The Problem of 
Luxemburg 



Hal 



By 

Xavier Prum, A.M. 

Professor of Mathematics in Dubuque College 



Ube IknicfterbocFier press 

New York 
1919 






Copyright, 19 i9 

BY 

XAVIER PRUM 









Xf^^%n^'i'^ 



FOREWORD 

yAVIER PRUM, the author of this 
plea for a change in the status of 
the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, knows 
from bitter experience what it means to 
belong to a small defenseless nation, 
whose sole hedge of protection was woven 
of promises to respect its neutrality. All 
proved worthless when it suited Germany 
to cross these neutral frontiers, in her 
mad desire to gain Paris before the less 
prepared nations should have time to 
gird themselves for resistance. Xavier 
Prum, a recent graduate of Louvain, was 
caught in Canada, when the storm of 1914 
burst and found no consul or minister 
to help him regain his non-belliger- 
ent native land. No post office or tele- 

iii 



iv Foreword 

graph official would receive a communica- 
tion for Luxemburg. It was in the grasp 
of the Germans and the native protests 
against their hold made no difference. 
The traveler, here for a trip only, was 
unable to go home. Fortunately he suc- 
ceeded in obtaining a position to teach 
mathematics in Dubuque College, Iowa 
— a lucky chance it was, as differential 
calculus is not an invariably marke table 
commodity! And here he has remained 
during the years of the war, receiving 
only scant information about his home- 
land in roundabout ways. His anxiety 
was the greater because he did learn, 
indirectly, that his father had been taken 
to a German prison. Here was another 
reason and a graver one for conviction 
that the rights of Luxemburg people were 
ill-defended. The treatment accorded to 
a worthy magistrate is a striking instance 
of Teutonic methods in a region which 



Foreword v 

officials had declared that they just wanted 
to cross. 

Emile Prum was a manufacturer in 
Clerf or Clervaux. In 19 14-15 he was 
burgomaster, having earlier served as 
deputy to the parliament in Luxemburg. 
He was known as a leader of the Catho- 
lics, often in opposition to M. Eyschen, 
then President of the Government. He 
was far less in sympathy with France 
than with Germany, where he was in the 
habit of taking part in congresses of 
Catholics, and where he was in close 
touch with the Centrist party of the 
Reichstag. The events of the early 
months of the war roused his intense 
indignation. He felt that his friends, the 
German Catholics, must also be roused 
to action. He could not understand 
their apathy when their Belgian brothers 
were suffering as they were. His Open 
Letter to Erzberger, leader of the German 



vi Foreword 

Catholic party, was printed in the Clerfer 
Echo (March, 191 5), and in the Fort- 
schritt of Diekirch. Then it was put 
into a pamphlet of forty-two pages, 
which was, however, immediately seized 
by the Luxemburg police at the request 
of the German authorities, who had not 
simply crossed the Grand Duchy to leave 
it on the other side. Prussian control 
was making itself felt in every walk of 
life among those non-belligerents. Just 
a few brochures escaped destruction and 
Le Correspondant informed its readers of 
the incident (April, 191 5). The contents 
of the suppressed pamphlet were highly 
displeasing to the recipient as they were 
a passionate arraignment of the actions 
of the Germans in Belgium. Some of 
the phrases of the closing paragraphs 
were: ''Do not, I beg you. Sir, attribute 
the freedom of language here to Ger- 
manophobe intentions. On the very eve 



Foreword vii 

of hostilities, I was writing, on this west- 
ern frontier of the Germanic linguistic 
area, in favour of true Germanism as 
against an ex;aggerated franscaillerie. I 
address myself, not to the Germanophobe 
Press abroad, but to Germany, to you, 
the member of the Reichstag, as .the 
qualified representative of the German 
Catholics. The German people, poisoned 
by the information given by a Press de- 
void of a conscience, is the prey of a 
sort of Nationalist delirium/' From the 
''vertigo of a national hatred,'* this 
''Commander of the Order of St. Syl- 
vester," and "Member of the Permanent 
Committee of the International Euchar- 
istic Congress'' hoped to lead the faithful 
of his communion to an understanding 
of German crimes. 

But he simply excited violent opposi- 
tion. Proceedings were begun against 
him on the score that he had used unsub- 



viii Foreword 

stantiated foreign statements to malign 
Germany. Art. 129 of the Luxemburg 
constitution provided for the punishment 
of any one who should expose the State 
to foreign hostilities by ''hostile action.'' 
And Prum's pamphlet was construed 
as being such ''hostile action." There 
was a paper controversy through the 
summer of 191 5. In October, Prum 
wrote a second pamphlet entitled The 
Widowhood of Truth. The chance of a 
three-day suspension of the censorship 
covering All Saints' and All Souls' Days, 
with a Sunday, enabled Prtim to send 
some of these across the frontier. That 
gave an opening, and on November 3d 
he was arrested summarily at 6 a.m. and 
taken to Treves, thus out of Luxem- 
burg into Germany. No opportunity was 
given him of showing proofs for his state- 
ments. On the charge of insulting the 
German Army, a military tribunal con- 



Foreword ix 

demned this neutral Ltixemburg civilian 
burgomaster to a three-year imprison- 
ment in solitary confinement. At the 
end of half this term, owing to the efforts 
of the Grand Duchess and the Pope, the 
sentence was commuted to internment in 
Breslau. The next event is still unex- 
plained. In October, 19 18, a fresh sen- 
tence condemned him to three months' 
solitary confinement. But here, the Armi- 
stice of November nth was the agent 
of intervention and release followed. 
Meantime his older son has been sit- 
ting in the Luxemburg parliament and 
was among the deputies calling for a 
referendum as to a change in the status 
of the Grand Duchy. Xavier Prum, 
thus, gives his opinion as a Luxem- 
burger and as a member of a family 
which has been closely identified with 
life and events in his native state. That, 
for the moment, he is expatriated, is a 



X Foreword 

chance of war, but he knows whereof 
he speaks and his opinion is entitled 
to a hearing. 

Ruth Putnam. 

Washington, D. C, Feb 4. 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS 

T^HE victorious powers in the war just 
concluded asserted their cause to 
be the cause of freedom and justice and 
the right of nations to self-determination. 
Again and again the statesmen of the 
Entente declared themselves the cham- 
pions of small nations and oppressed 
races. Now one such small nation and 
precisely such a victim of oppression is 
the subject of our sketch. 

Luxemburg, although small, is cer- 
tainly the home of a distinct race and 
has for centuries manifested in her na- 
tional life the essential characteristics 
of a well-defined nationality. She has 
a history, national traditions, a lan- 

xi 



xii Preliminary Remarks 

guage, and customs all her own. In a 
word, Luxemburg is a distinct race and 
as such, according to the principles 
avowed by the victors in the late war, 
has an unquestionable right to a sepa- 
rate existence. 

However, Luxemburg is too small and 
too weak to exist in complete isolation. 
As we shall see in Chapter II of this 
sketch, complete isolation would prove 
fatal to the economic existence and 
even to the national well-being generally. 
Luxemburg therefore must seek among 
the larger powers a friendly affinity and 
an agreeable complement to the interests, 
social, cultural, political, and economic 
of her national life. 

Various solutions have been proposed 
to the problem facing Luxemburg. They 
may be grouped under three heads: 
First, we have the partisans of complete 
autonomy; secondly, of annexation to 



Preliminary Remarks xiii 

France; and, lastly, of association under 
some form or other with Belgitim. 

After careful and conscientious con- 
sideration we deem as most reasonable 
and most satisfying for all parties con- 
cerned the last solution, which would 
preserve separate national existence to 
Luxemburg and at the same time obtain 
for her the innumerable benefits accruing 
from association with a large, friendly, 
and kindred nation, whose historic past 
and national life Luxemburg has shared 
for centuries. 

To those who object to this solution 
as not ideal and foreign to their romantic, 
poetic, and quixotic notions, we would 
suggest that we do not live in an ideal 
world, but, alas! in a very real one. 
Therefore we must accept conditions as 
we find them. Lydia Bennet, in Jane 
Austen's Pride and Prejudice, did not 
think her new bonnet very pretty, but 



xiv Preliminary Remarks 

thought she might as well buy it as not, 

and vowed there were two or three much 

uglier in the shop. 

X. P. 

Dubuque, Iowa, Jan. 27, 1919. 



The Problem of Luxemburg 



The Problem of Luxemburg 



LUXEMBURG TRIBUTARY TO 
GERMANY 

THE GENESIS OF THE GRAND DUCHY 

TUNE 9, 1815, marks the birth of Lux- 
emburg as a Grand Duchy. It was 
created by the Congress of Vienna and 
placed under the sovereignty of the King 
of the Netherlands to indemnify him for 
the loss of several provinces that he was 
forced to cede to the King of Prussia. 
That celebrated Congress, as is well 
known, sought to solve the problems that 
it faced rather from the point of view of 



2 The Problem of Luxemburg 

the interests of dynasties than of nations. 
Its solutions, therefore, based as they 
were on a basis more artificial than natu- 
ral, were very unsatisfactory; and to make 
matters worse, they were formulated in 
so vague and indeterminate a manner 
as to admit of the most conflicting inter- 
pretations. Thus was the Grand Duchy 
of Luxemburg incorporated into the 
German Confederation, a fact, however, 
which did not interfere with King Wil- 
liam of the Netherlands calling it in a 
Royal Proclamation an ''integral part 
of the Netherlands/' It was, no doubt, 
partially due to this state of confusion 
that Luxemburg did not participate more 
completely in the Belgian Revolution in 
1830. After this revolution, Luxemburg 
was separated from the newly erected 
Belgian Kingdom and constituted into 
a separate state. 

In 1866 the German Confederation, 



Tributary to Germany 3 

of which Luxemburg still formed part, 
was dissolved and France through Napo- 
leon III made a vain effort to absorb 
Luxemburg by purchasing her from the 
King of the Netherlands. At that time, 
although Luxemburg had ostensibly ac- 
quired her full autonomy through the 
dissolution of the German Confeder- 
ation, the King of Prussia notwith- 
standing arrogated to himself the right 
of keeping a garrison in the city of 
Luxemburg. 

The situation grew very acute and a 
war between France and Prussia seemed 
inevitable. At this critical moment, 
England's offer to mediate was accepted 
and the contending parties arrived at a 
compromise, embodied in the Treaty of 
London, 1867, whereby France aban- 
doned her plans of purchasing the Grand 
Duchy and the King of Prussia pledged 
himself to withdraw his garrison from 



4 The Problem of Luxemburg 

Luxemburg. The Grand Duchy, accord- 
ing to one of the articles of that treaty, 
was declared a * 'perpetually neutral state" 
and placed under the collective guarantee 
of Great Britain, Austria, France, Prussia, 
and Russia. 

PERPETUAL NEUTRALITY 

The perpetual neutrality then guaran- 
teed to Luxemburg is a curious piece of 
diplomatic shuffling. The great powers 
in the treaties guaranteeing the neutrali- 
ties of Belgiimi and Switzerland obliged 
these countries to the defense of their 
neutrality; whereas the Treaty of Lon- 
don permitted Luxemburg a mere pas- 
sive resistance in the event of an invasion 
of her rights. The neutrality of Bel- 
gium is, according to the words of Leo- 
pold I, ''sincere, loyale et forte,'' the 
truth of which the calamitous days of 



Tributary to Germany 5 

August, 1 91 4, have given us such glori- 
ous proof. 

Even before the ratification of the 
twenty-four articles granting Belgium 
independence, she had to promise *' al- 
ways to keep in good condition'' certain 
fortresses, and Switzerland, through her 
treaties of independence acquired the 
right to occupy for her defense, certain 
fortresses belonging to France. Luxem- 
burg, on the other hand, was forced, by 
Articles 2, 3, and 5 of the Treaty of London, 
to dismantle the fortress of Luxemburg, 
to promise that it should never be rebuilt, 
and to promise further not to maintain 
any military establishment except such 
as might be necessary to preserve order. 

Thus the Grand Duchy was forced to 
renounce forever the right of waging war 
and even the right of defending the in- 
tegrity of its territory other than by 
passive resistance (P. Eyschen, Staats- 



6 The Problem of Luxemburg 

recht, p. 42), a right which, as Bluntschli 
acutely remarks, is an essential preroga- 
tive of a sovereign independent state. 
For that matter it is quite clear that in 
reality Luxemburg has never been inde- 
pendent. According to Klueber ''every 
state as a free moral personality is its 
own end and should not serve as a means 
for the ends of other states.'' Far from 
realizing this essential attribute of a 
free state, Luxemburg had to submit to 
political and military subserviency to Ger- 
many. Thus, although theoretically in- 
dependent Luxemburg, to all intents and 
purposes except liability to military ser- 
vice,f ormed an integral part of thelateGer- 
man Empire. Indeed, whatever shadow 
of political independence Luxemburg re- 
tained was due to the jealousy of the 
Great Powers. German domination of 
Luxemburg shows up clearly in connec- 
tion with the railways and the Zollverein. 



Tributary to Germany 7 

THE ZOLLVEREIN 

Luxemburg has belonged to the Ger- 
man Zollverem (German Customs Union) 
since 1842. The fact that a country 
enters with another country into an eco- 
nomic aUiance of the nature of the ZoU- 
verein, does not, theoretically speaking, 
interfere with its independent existence. 
In practice, however, such an alliance 
profoundly affects the national character! 
through the economic life of a country. 
The inhabitants of the two countries meet 
frequently and not as foreigners, because 
they have common interests and with the 
products of their industries they exchange 
their ideas and culture and thus tend to 
amalgamate into a homogeneous whole. 

The influence of the ZoUverein affected 
strongly the legislation of Luxemburg, 
which had to conform to that of the other 
states included in the ZoUverein. And 



8 The Problem of Luxemburg 

if the cost of living a few years prior to 
the war was so much higher in Luxem- 
burg than in Belgium, for instance, this 
was due to the influence of the ZoUverein. 
Germany was making incredible efforts 
to create a navy equal to her army, and 
the indirect taxes, imposed in consequence 
— the direct taxes did, of course, not 
concern Luxemburg — on necessities as 
well as on luxuries, mounted from year 
to year to a tremendous height. 

True, the ZoUverein was not without 
its advantages, but it is equally true that 
an economic alliance of the same sort 
with any other country would have car- 
ried with it far greater and more numerous 
benefits and far less and far fewer burdens. 

THE RAILWAYS 

The other consideration as to the rail- 
ways proved even more pernicious to the 



Tributary to Germany 9 

interests of Luxemburg than the ZoU- 
verein. The railway question is always 
a very important one in every country. 
If in large countries railways prove so 
frequently an occasion of bitter dissen- 
sion among commercial interests, how 
much more would this be the case in a 
small country where the difficulties aris- 
ing from conflicting interests are increased 
by difficulties of an international charac- 
ter? To realize how especially true this 
is of Luxemburg it suffices to glance at a 
map of Europe and observe the impor- 
tance of Luxemburg from a strategic point 
of view. Germany gave eloquent proof 
of this in August, 1914, when she invaded 
the country ''to protect her railway 
interests." 

Up to 1 87 1 the railways of Luxemburg 
— ^we refer here only to the main railway 
system, the Guillaume-Luxemburg — 
were exploited by the Compagnie de TEst, 



10 The Problem of Luxemburg 

a French concern. At the conclusion of 
the Franco-Prussian War the Luxem- 
burgers were amazed to find in the Treaty 
of Frankfurt a clause dealing with the 
railways of Luxemburg: Germany and 
France in effect disposing of something 
that belonged to neither! By the terms 
of the treaty the French concern was 
forced to abandon its rights and the Ger- 
man Government immediately took steps 
which ended in the forcible exploitation 
of the railway system Guillaume-Luxem- 
bourg. The Luxemburger statesmen ob- 
jected strenuously to the exploitation. 
Their objections to German arrogance 
are crystallized in paragraph 2 of the 
Treaty of June 11, 1872, by which the 
German Government pledged itself never 
to use the railways of Luxemburg for any 
purpose of war, namely transportation of 
troops, arms, ammunition, supplies, or any 
such material to be used for waging war. 



Tributary to Germany 1 1 

Those innocent old statesmen with 
characteristically Luxemburger honesty 
naively believed in the sacredness of the 
given word, not realizing, of course, that 
their given word only was binding and 
that the Germans' was not a sacred and 
everlasting bond, but a ''scrap of paper'' 
to be torn up at their good pleasure. 

THE THREE SOLUTIONS 

Thus we see that before the war Lux- 
emburg was completely subsidiary to 
Germany. That subservience, as is 
self-evident, must cease when peace is 
concluded. ''If Luxemburg agree to it, 
Europe would object; and if Europe 
would agree to it, Luxemburg would 
object," writes Francis Gribble in The 
Nineteenth Century and After. This ex- 
presses very correctly the state of things 
and it is too self-evident for discussion. 



12 The Problem of Luxemburg 

What then shall become of Luxemburg? 
Three principal solutions have been 
proposed : 

1. That Luxemburg should become a 
completely independent nation. 

2. That Luxemburg should amalga- 
mate with France. 

3. That Luxemburg should seek an 
association with Belgium. 

The first and the last of these solutions 
have in Luxemburg a number of followers. 
The second was nowhere seriously thought 
of except by a few Luxemburgers resident 
in Paris, who naturally enough were 
tempted to impute sentiments to Luxem- 
burgers generally that were merely their 
own and that, unconsciously we are sure, 
arise from motives of self-interest and 
the influence of environment. 

According to our method of elimination, 
we shall consider and discuss the three 
proposals. 



II 

THE HYPOTHESIS OF COMPLETE 

ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL 

INDEPENDENCE 

A BEAUTIFUL DREAM 

CROM the facts considered in the pre- 
ceding chapter, it clearly follows, 
that in spite of her theoretical inde- 
pendence, the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg 
before the war was tributary to Germany, 
not only economically but, to a certain 
extent, also politically. It is natural 
enough that German domination, so 
keenly resented by Luxemburg, should 
give rise to a desire for complete in- 
dependence. That very clever English- 
man, the late John Ruskin, once said 

13 



14 The Problem of Luxemburg 

that the masses catch an opinion as they 
would a cold, from exposure to infection. 
And similarly, the masses, when exposed 
to the infection of a sentimental sophism, 
are quite liable to catch it. Such pre- 
cisely is the opinion which favors a com- 
pletely isolated and independent Lux- 
emburg. It is a solution not without 
a certain seductive charm, inspired as it 
is by sentiments natural and noble and 
altogether creditable to the hearts of its 
authors. 

The lofty patriotic motives that have 
prompted the desire for a completely 
independent, Luxemburg, I emphatically 
avow, are precisely the same as have 
moved me to pen these lines. I yield to 
no man in love for the country of my 
birth. Would to God that this exalted 
ideal of a completely autonomous Luxem- 
burg were practicable! It is an ideal 
which excites my warmest sympathy and 



Hypothesis of Independence 15 

its authors arouse my admiration. But, 
alas! it is a dream, a beautiful dream to 
be sure, but still a dream. It is an un- 
attainable ideal that was unrealizable in 
the past and one whose realization the 
stem realities and hard necessities of 
modern life preclude for the future. In 
no sense am I an iconoclast, and it is the 
desire to see this ideal realized so far as 
realizable that has inspired the solution 
which I propose, the only one, in my 
humble estimation, compatible with the 
best interests and the national existence 
of my native land. 

THE DEATH-KNELL OF SMALL STATES 

The isolation of the Grand Duchy 
during the war has left its inhabitants 
in relative ignorance as to the great 
changes brought about by the colossal 
conflict. This circumstance may account 



i6 The Problem of Luxemburg 

in some measure for the visionary solu- 
tions that have been proposed. Those, 
however, who have at heart the future of 
their country and who have been in a 
position to follow closely the great changes 
that Europe has been undergoing, know 
that the time has come to face the new 
conditions that have arisen. 

They see at a glance that the hour for 
states of a meditmi size has come and 
that the day for the small state has gone 
forever. The new states will form along 
lines of national and racial affinities. 
The Czechs and the Slovaks will very 
probably form one single nation instead 
of two. The Croatians, the Serbians, 
and the Montenegrins will apparently 
coalesce into one great Jugo-Slav nation. 
The Poles will form one great Poland, 
and Europe, which will comprise many 
new states, will witness the disappearance 
of states of minimum importance and 



Hypothesis of Independence 17 

such as are erected on a basis merely 
artificial and political. In a Europe thus 
reconstructed a fully autonomous and 
completely isolated Luxemburg would 
stand a pigmy among giants, in constant 
and great peril of injustice and complete 
absorption by one of her powerful neigh- 
bors, an absorption inevitable in the 
course of time under such an hypothesis. 

ECONOMIC POINT OF VIEW 

Those also conversant with the condi- 
tions of the new Europe foresee that grave 
economic problems will beset the future 
of the European nations. To cling to 
a narrow and jealous independence is a 
pretty sentiment, perhaps, but it is not 
common sense, because it ignores the 
primary economic condition of the Europe 
of the present and the future. 

In the preceding chapter we have shown 



1 8 The Problem of Luxemburg 

that the independence nominally pos- 
sessed by the Grand Duchy of Luxem- 
burg was a mere camouflage to her utter 
subjection to Germany. But some sort 
of dependence for Luxemburg is inherent 
in the nature of things under the present 
constitution of European society. An 
isolated Luxemburg would be a political 
organism so weak and poor and incom- 
plete as must needs look elsewhere for 
complements to the insufficiency of her 
economic and political life. In the past 
Luxemburg had to seek dependence on 
account of her economic deficiencies. For 
greater reasons must she cast about for 
assistance in the future when Luxem- 
burg's economic problems will have vastly 
increased in their difficulty. In the future 
a devastated Europe will have no surplus to 
bestow on such an insignificant country as 
Luxemburg would be but she will need all 
her resources for her own reconstruction. 



Hypothesis of Independence 19 

What then will be the economic regime 
of the Grand Duchy on the morrow of 
the war? Depending prior to 191 4 en- 
tirely on the system of the German Zoll- 
verein, the economy of Ltixemburg cannot 
for evident reasons continue to remain 
subservient to Germany. If Luxemburg 
should decide on economic independence 
she would have to provide for herself an 
economically complete life; or, in other 
words, satisfy her own needs, which is an 
absolute impossibility, as Luxemburg can 
supply very few of her own necessities. 

The Grand Duchy is evidently an in- 
complete economic organism. Practi- 
cally Luxemburg draws from foreign 
countries all that is necessary to her eco- 
nomic life. Her agriculture does not suffice 
for the needs of her own population : the 
Luxemburgers have to import their food 
from other countries. The few factories 
found in the Grand Duchy represent 



20 The Problem of Luxemburg 

necessarily only a small number of indus- 
tries and they cannot satisfy all the needs 
of the country. On the other hand, 
there are some industries in Luxemburg 
whose production vastly exceeds the 
local demand for those special products, 
and if they were destitute of facilities 
for selling their own products in foreign 
markets, economic strangulation would 
ensue. The manufacture of iron in 
Luxemburg, for instance, which represents 
the principal industry of the country, 
before the war was possible only, as is 
clear, by importation of coal. Thus, 
without foreign help Luxemburg could 
not develop her only important resource. 
In any case she would have to import most 
of the necessities of life. 

Such a situation cannot be viewed 
without fear for the future. Under ideal 
circimistances, Luxembtirg might succeed 
by means of the free trade or by means of 



Hypothesis of Independence 21 

custom arrangements to realize a certain 
economic equilibrium; but how instable 
such a situation would be! How dearly 
and how hardly would products necessary 
to the everyday life of each Luxemburger 
be obtained! And who will answer for 
to-morrow? Who will assure us that her 
neighbors will not wage an economic war 
against Luxemburg and erect against her 
unsurmountable tariff barriers? Finally, 
even under the hypothesis of the most 
favorable circumstances, is it not quite 
clear that such an economic equilibrium 
so precarious as dependent on the good 
will of foreigners, yet for Luxemburg a 
matter of life and death, is it not quite 
clear, I repeat, that the necessity of such 
an arrangement would bring her sooner 
or later under the domination of one of 
her powerful neighbors? 

Instead of running into these dangers, 
instead of allowing oneself to be be- 



22 The Problem of Luxemburg 

trayed into a disguised and vague eco- 
nomic dependency, would it not be better 
to decide upon open and definite econom- 
ic action, affording manifold opportuni- 
ties and a determined and stable future? 
Industry and commerce require above 
all things stability when altogether depen- 
dent, as in Luxemburg, on importations 
and export ations. 

In case of economic conventions with 
Luxemburg, her neighbors would aim at 
securing the raw iron of Luxemburg and 
not the highly finished product. Free 
to impose their conditions on Luxemburg, 
in case of a negotiation, foreign countries 
would evidently strive to obtain the raw 
iron in order to manufacture it at home, 
thus giving their own people the benefit 
of this industry. In this way the Grand 
Duchy would witness the downfall of her 
splendid iron and steel industry and 
misery would prevail where once steel 



Hypothesis of Independence 23 

works and blast furnaces brought pros- 
perity and happiness. 

In reaUty, no matter from what angle 
the economical future of the Grand Duchy 
be considered, the country cannot exist 
without falling under the economic regime 
of one of her neighbors. 

THE RAILWAY QUESTION 

The railways, moreover, add to this 
necessity. The largest railway system 
of the Grand Duchy, freed by the for- 
tunate conclusion of the war, from the 
grip of Germany cannot, without suffer- 
ing and even without becoming a real 
burden for the state, remain autonomous, 
because Luxemburg, a country of transit, 
has a railway that is necessarily destined 
to convey merchandise from the Rhine 
region towards the French and Belgian 
ports. 



24 The Problem of Luxemburg 

The railways of Luxemburg are merely 
connecting links; it would be difficult 
for them to remain autonomous. Would 
Europe allow it? Furthermore, the ad- 
ministration of a small railway section 
is a burdensome, difficult, expensive, and 
delicate operation; and far more so pro- 
portionately than when part of a large 
system. 

Again, the government of Luxemburg 
has always considered itself unable to 
administer its principal railway system, 
and one might recall the astonishment 
provoked in the parliament in 1872 by 
a member who proposed that the govern- 
ment should take them over. 

If the government of Luxemburg would 
administer the Guillatmie-Luxembourg 
railway system, which is the only one 
in Luxemburg worthy of the name, is it 
not to be feared that it would fall on 
the same level as that notorious '' Jangli," 



Hypothesis of Independence 25 

which is the opprobrious name bestowed 
by the dissatisfied victims of governmen- 
tal administration upon the unique rail- 
way that the government of Luxemburg 
is administering? 

In order that the Grand Duchy of 
Luxemburg be worthy of the name of a 
nation and in order that the Luxemburg- 
ers may in truth continue to sing their 
national anthem, Feierwon (The Locomo- 
tive), it is necessary that Luxemburg 
should possess a railway worthy of the 
song and worthy to convey the numerous 
excursionists and admirers of her scenic 
grandeur. 

POLITICAL POINT OF VIEW 

The complete independence of the 
Grand Duchy of Luxemburg appears 
equally dangerous and impossible from an 
internal political point of view. Politi- 



26 The Problem of Luxemburg 

cally speaking, the Grand Duchy would 
in this hypothesis also be an incomplete 
organism. 

A modern state properly to discharge its 
functions requires an elaborate and com- 
plicated system of political and economic 
machinery which is out of the ques- 
tion for Luxemburg. Whether it be a 
matter of civil, commercial, penal, or 
social legislature, of social and economic 
organisms, representation abroad, institu- 
tions of higher learning, scientific insti- 
tutions, the defense of the country, bank- 
ing and other financial organizations — 
obviously in the case of such a small 
country as Luxemburg would be — the 
hypothesis is impossible. 

We, whom the war has kept afar from the 
native soil and who have found in America 
a country of hospitality and liberty and 
the best of refuges, have painfully felt 
how troublesome it would be for the 



Hypothesis of Independence 27 

Grand Duchy of Luxemburg to exist as 
an incomplete organism in the sphere of 
diplomatic and consular representation 
in foreign countries. 

Belonging to a nationality unknown in 
most of the countries, without consular 
aid, without diplomatic assistance, the 
Ltixemburger is in foreign countries an 
unfortunate wanderer, suspected and not 
knowing at what door to knock. He 
cannot obtain the passports which enable 
him to return home, he has not the fa- 
cility of correspondence at the disposal of 
citizens of allied and neutral countries; 
he is not protected from censorship; in 
one word, he does not know where to go, 
he does not know where to address him- 
self, and he envies from the bottom of his 
heart those who possess a nationality 
that is known, respected, and represented. 

The maintenance of an adequate repre- 
sentation for Luxemburg in foreign coun- 



28 The Problem of Luxemburg 

tries is an impossibility. The entire 
budget of Luxemburg being of forty-two 
million francs only, it is impossible for 
the government to raise a sufficiency for 
the conduct of foreign affairs. Some 
twenty years ago, when the Luxemburgers 
of the United States realized the great 
need of Luxemburger consuls in America 
and when an extended movement was set 
on foot to obtain recognition for a Lux- 
emburger consular representative in this 
country, they were told that the financial 
resources of the Grand Duchy were not ad- 
equate to an establishment of this nature. 
It is true that the diplomatists and the 
consuls of the Netherlands are empowered 
to act as representatives of Luxemburg. 
But such an arrangement has proved 
most unsatisfactory and from personal 
experience, confirmed by the narratives of 
many of my countrymen, I daresay that 
the money provided for this purpose is, as 



Hypothesis of Independence 29 

far as the convenience of the traveling Lux- 
emburger is concerned, a complete waste. 

It is hardly necessary to add that the 
internal political regime of Luxemburg 
seems doomed to foreign influence. It 
was thus in the past and it would be 
difficult for it to be otherwise in the future. 

Whatever be the good intentions of 
those now at the helm, who would dare 
to wager that the governments which will 
succeed each other will not determine 
upon a policy dictated from outside? 
The Luxemburgers have too much good 
sense and too ardent a love for liberty 
not to prefer the reality of independence 
to its mere semblancy. 

THE INTERNATIONAL STATUS 
OF LUXEMBURG 

From an international point of view 
isolation is equally impossible. The 



30 The Problem of Luxemburg 

Grand Duchy by its geographic position 
is the meeting point of the Teutonic and 
Western civihzation. At this time, when 
the AUies, in order to render impossible 
another invasion Hke that of 1914,, are 
taking military precautions and are more 
than ever anxious to safeguard their 
boundaries from all danger, it seems 
improbable that they would be inclined 
to permit the Grand Duchy to be an 
open door to a repetition of the invasion 
of 19 14. They are unwilling that their 
positions on the frontiers of Alsace and 
Lorraine or on those of the Eifel Hill, be 
flanked by the Grand Duchy of Luxem- 
burg. They will not leave Luxemburg 
an uncertain quantity from a military 
point of view; neither will they rest 
indifferent as to the influence which will 
direct her external policies as well as her 
economic r6gime. 



Hypothesis of Independence 31 

ILLUSORY GUARANTEES 

Notwithstanding the fact that the best 
interests of Luxemburg are incompatible 
with absolute independence — an inde- 
pendence as we have seen in any case 
chimerical and illusory in the highest 
degree — nevertheless there are some who 
cling to this theory for fear of a future 
war in which Luxemburg might be in- 
volved. 

But have not the happenings of the 
last four years proved irrefutably that 
immunity, even when guaranteed by the 
Great Powers, is no assurance against war? 
Luxemburg and Belgium are convincing 
examples that it is not. ''Guarantees,'' 
said Frederick II, ''are like filigranes, 
more to satisfy the eyes than for their 
intrinsic value.'' "And never," says 
Klueber, "have guarantees preserved 
Europe from war." 



Ill 

THE FRENCH SOLUTION 

A FACTITIOUS PROPAGANDA 

TF, before this war, Ltixemburg had to 
determine her own future, very few 
Luxemburgers indeed would have even 
thought of an association with France in 
any form. We are forced to take it into 
consideration now merely because a few 
Luxemburgers residing in Paris, influenced, 
no doubt, by their environment, have 
staged a vast propaganda in favor of 
the annexation to France, a propaganda 
that might lead a superficial and un- 
sophisticated observer to believe that 
there are serious arguments or a sincere 
desire on the part of the Luxemburgers 

32 



The French Solution 33 

generally in favor of this solution. Their 
own opinion to the contrary notwith- 
standing, there is nothing important or 
noteworthy about these people but their 
noise. The celebrated simile of Edmund 
Burke fits them exactly. They are like 
the cricket of the field that makes more 
noise than all the majestic cattle grazing 
there. Of course, the Luxemburgers have 
great sympathy and admiration for 
France. But, to conclude from that to 
a desire of becoming French — for, note 
well, they speak only of annexing Luxem- 
burg to France — is in some respects the 
same as pretending that America wants 
to become French. Does not every 
American love and admire gallant France 
that has always stood on the ramparts of 
civilization, ready to defend and help the 
weak? Does not the whole world love 
and admire France? 

Luxemburg bears to France the same 



34 The Problem of Luxemburg 

relation as her other neighbors where the 
French civilization has penetrated and 
diffused the radiance of its brilliant ctil- 
ture. One of the attributes of French 
culture is precisely its pervasive power 
and easy adaptation, which permits so 
many nations to make it their own. But 
admiration of French civilization by no 
means implies any desire on the part of 
Luxemburg to abdicate her nationality 
in favor of France. Henry de Bornier 
has very cleverly expressed that thought 
in his Roland where Charles the Great 
utters the hope ''that every man should 
have two countries: his own and France." 
It is sufficient, moreover, to know the 
characteristic traits of the Luxemburger 
and the Frenchman to perceive that the 
two mentalities are diametrically opposed. 
The character of the Luxemburger has 
nothing in common with that of the 
Frenchman, which is Latin. There do 



The French Solution 35 

not exist between Luxemburgers and 
Frenchmen those common traits of char- 
acter that are found, for instance, be- 
tween the Swiss of Latin and German 
origin, between the Belgians of Walloon 
and Fleming origin, traits which are the 
result of a long life in common and of 
a mutual and intense compenetration. 
These close relations between France and 
Luxemburg have never existed, unless 
during the small span of time when 
Luxemburg, a vanquished state, was under 
French law. Luxemburg was French 
during the French Revolution and under 
Napoleon, but at the same time half of 
Europe was French. The French occu- 
pation has, moreover, left memories in 
Luxemburg which are not of a character 
to inspire the wish that it be renewed. 
The soldiers of the Directorate behaved 
very badly. There were extortions and 
massacres; there was a Peasants' War 



36 The Problem of Luxemburg 

repressed with great severity. A monu- 
ment was erected some twenty years 
ago at Clervaux in the memory of the 
heroes who shed their blood fighting the 
revolutionary soldatesca, and Mass is 
still sung at Dudelange for the souls of 
the civilians who were murdered when 
the French sacked the village. Grand- 
mothers scare the little ones in the 
nursery into obedience with the name 
of Robespierre — they call him ''Rookels- 
peer.'' 

''Seldom/' writes Mr. George Renwick, 
''has wrong penetrated so deeply into 
the soul of a little community. For that 
reason Dudelange has always associated 
the French with all that is most evil. 
The memory of that butchery and its 
losses is one which nothing that France 
might ever do, could possibly wipe out. 
To-day, the ill-will finds fiery expression 



The French Solution 37 

as though the deed were of yesterday's 
doing/' 

No doubt, there is something of pic- 
turesque exaggeration in that estimate, 
comments Francis Gribble in The Nine- 
teenth Century and After, and we quite 
agree with him, for every Luxemburger 
knows that whatever the French of the 
eighteenth century might have done, 
they are to-day a humane and civiHzed 
people. However, this memory does still 
live and it alone constitutes a striking 
proof of the fact that this propaganda 
was not conceived in the bosom of the 
people of Luxemburg. 

A PIN IN A HAYSTACK 

Having thus examined the Francophile 
movement as to its possible origin with 
the people of Luxemburg, we feel spon- 
taneously that neither history nor char- 



38 The Problem of Luxemburg 

acter offer a sufficient basis for such a 
project. We are now led to examine 
whether the two countries have common 
interests such that they would demand 
a life in common. Not only do we find 
nothing in its favor, but on the contrary, 
there are many and serious objections 
to be raised against it. 

The Luxemburgers, although their 
country is small and their mmiber few, 
are animated with the most intense love 
for their nation, its freedom and inde- 
pendence. Never will the Luxemburgers 
freely abdicate their nationality. Never 
will they renounce willingly the rights 
which they have acquired by centuries of 
separate existence and allow their country 
to become an insignificant part of a 
large nation and their capital an obscure 
provincial town. We know that in the 
past considerations of that nature have 
played very little part in the determina- 




Comparative Areas of France and Luxemburg 



39 



The French Solution 41 

tion of the status of small nations, but 
we firmly believe, and our belief is based 
on the utterances of those whose influ- 
ence will be paramount, that the Peace 
Conference of Paris will consider them. 

What a small territory does Luxemburg 
occupy when compared to France! Be- 
fore the war, the area of France was of 
207,054 sq. m.; that of Luxemburg 999 
sq. m.! France had 40,000,000 inhabi- 
tants and Luxemburg scarcely 250,000! 
And in the coming year France will 
at least be enlarged by Alsace and Lor- 
raine, that is to say, several departments 
and 1,800,000 inhabitants. These figures 
strikingly illustrate the importance that 
the interests and the wishes of the Luxem- 
burgers would have at the Palais Bourbon 
when divergent from those of France. 
It is possible that in the beginning, 
France might try to avoid anything that 
would confirm these justifiable fears. 



42 The Problem of Luxemburg 

But we know that good resolutions of a 
new regime are similar to the celebrated 
New Year's resolutions that last as long 
as the year is new. 

One question, for instance, on which 
the attitude of France and that of the 
majority of the Luxemburgers is diametri- 
cally opposite is the religious question. 
Luxemburg knows only the regime of the 
Concordat which France renounced many 
years ago. The great majority of the 
people of Luxemburg are fervent Catho- 
lics who hold their religion very dear, and 
they have learned during the decades 
preceding the war to associate with 
France the pictures of fugitive monks 
and nuns, begging their daily bread, 
driven away from their own country by 
sacrilegious laws, inspired by an insane 
hatred toward the Church. Would not 
the friction inevitably resulting from 
divergence of opinion on a point so 



The French Solution 43 

fundamental immediately alienate from 
France the new member of her family? 

ECONOMIC POINT OF VIEW 

The economic intercourse between 
France and Luxemburg before the war 
was trifling, as anyone may see by con- 
sulting the statistics on the point. It is 
true that the ZoUverein of which Luxem- 
burg formed part is to some, extent re- 
sponsible for this state of affairs. Not alto- 
gether, however, for the word of Horace : 

''Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque 
recurret, 

Et mala perrumpet furtim fastidia vic- 
trix,'' 

which Destouches translates, ''Chase the 
natural and it will gallop back,'' may be 
applied to nations as well as individuals. 
France and the French harbors are no 
more the natural economic roads of 



44 The Problem of Luxemburg 

Luxemburg than Germany and the Ger- 
man harbors. The reason for this lies 
in the simple fact that the harbors of 
Le Havre and Dunkirk are measurably 
distant from Luxemburg and are not 
connected with Luxemburg by a direct 
railway system; circumstances which 
not only delay the transportation of 
merchandise to Luxemburg, but also 
considerably increase the freight rates. 

It is true that if Luxemburg formed 
part of France the difficulties resulting 
from the absence of coal in the Grand 
Duchy would vanish. But it is equally 
true that Luxemburg may obtain coal 
without completely giving up her life as 
a separate political organism. 



FRANCE, ''queen OF IRON*' 



The fact that with the annexation 
of Luxemburg to France the latter coun- 












Iron and Coal Regions 



45 



The French Solution 47 

try would acquire the iron fields of the 
Grand Duchy and thus possess, so to 
speak, the monopoly of iron in Europe, 
is the most interesting side of the question. 
The return of Lorraine to France will 
add to her iron fields the western part of 
the Bassin de Briey, which before the 
war supplied Germany with seventy-five 
per cent, of her iron. If the iron resources 
of Luxemburg be furthermore added to 
this already very large percentage of the 
European iron, France would constitute 
a huge iron trust. While the guns were 
yet roaring Francis Laur proclaimed 
France ''Queen of Iron '' if Alsace Lorraine 
were restored to her. 

Considered from this point of view, the 
Luxemburg question becomes indeed 
an international question of the greatest 
importance. Her annexation to France 
constitutes a grave danger to Europe, for 
it is of first importance that there remain 



48 The Problem of Luxemburg 

sources of iron and steel in Europe not 
belonging to a great power. The eco- 
nomic autonomy of Belgium, Holland, 
Switzerland, the Scandinavian countries, 
etc., depends on this condition. 

The chief problem is whether the bulk 
of the European pig-iron shall belong to 
one country which might have very little 
interest to export it under favorable 
conditions. It is quite natural to believe 
that France, possessing the largest part 
of the continental European iron produc- 
tion, will always have an interest in 
exporting highly finished iron and steel 
productions, and not the raw material. 
Iron is the key of modern economic life, 
and this is the reason why the iron ques- 
tion is of such vast importance. 

Another difficulty of international char- 
acter that would ensue from the an- 
nexation of Luxemburg to France is that, 
possessing Luxemburg, France would en- 



The French Solution 49 

circle Belgium from west, south, and east, 
leaving a small gap only through which 
Belgium could participate in the economic 
life of the Rhine region. It goes without 
saying that in spite of the sacred bonds 
of friendship that bind France and Bel- 
gium, this might greatly disturb the 
general settlement of Europe. 

IMPOSSIBLE MUTILATION 

Whether to satisfy everyone or to re- 
move the last mentioned danger, the 
project of dividing the Grand Duchy 
between France and Belgium has been 
agitated. 

From a national point of view this 
solution must evidently be rejected, for 
Luxemburg is a well-defined nationality 
and the Luxemburgers cannot suffer 
foreign interest to come and impose on 
their country a last mutilation that would 



50 The Problem of Luxemburg 

destroy probably forever the national ex- 
istence of their ancient race. 

From a purely international point of 
view this solution is equally dangerous 
as the annexation to France, for the part 
that would fall to France is precisely the 
one that contains the iron fields and thus 
the great danger which we pointed out 
would still exist. 



IV 

ASSOCIATION WITH BELGIUM 

A NATURAL AND SPONTANEOUS 
MOVEMENT 

CENTIMENT, interest, and reason 
attract Luxemburg to Belgium. Of 
Belgium every Luxemburger thinks, when 
he realizes his country must seek new as- 
sociation. The preservation of her sepa- 
rate national life for Luxemburg, impossi- 
ble united to France, is easily realizable 
with Belgium. By association with Lux- 
emburg, such advantages would accrue to 
Belgium as would justify a modification 
of some of her institutions in accordance 
with the national aspirations of Luxem- 
burg, an hypothesis quite out of the 

51 



52 The Problem of Luxemburg 

question and ridiculous in the case of 
France. Many and vigorous bonds grap- 
ple the two countries together with hooks 
of steel. 

THE COMMON HISTORIC PAST 

History, an excellent commentary on 
the needs and life of nations, confirm these 
statements. Until recently the history 
of one has been the history of the other. 
For centuries their fortunes have been 
common and until 1839 their history 
ran along parallel lines. From the time 
of Julius Caesar, when the territories of 
both countries were included in the name 
''Belgica Prima,'' to the separation of 
the Grand Duchy in 1839, Belgitmi and 
Luxemburg owned a common past. 

Since the ninth century, the county 
of Luxemburg which was later to become 
the Duchy of Luxemburg formed part 



Association with Belgium 53 

of the lower Lotharingia, to which be- 
longed the principalities of Liege, Brabant, 
Limburg, Hainaut, and Namur. It is the 
House of Burgundy (fifteenth century) 
which reunited under its scepter these 
different provinces, including Flanders, 
and laid the foundations of the present 
Belgian kingdom. In 1451 the Duchy 
of Luxemburg was definitely and for- 
mally united to the other provinces and 
the constituents of Luxemburg pledged 
fidelity. 

From that day the history of Luxem- 
burg and that of Belgium blend even 
more intimately. Luxemburg like Bel- 
gitmi, at the extinction of the House of 
Burgundy, fell successively under Span- 
ish, Austrian, and French regime. Finally 
the two countries were incorporated into 
the kingdom of the Netherlands. With 
the Belgian provinces, Luxemburg shared 
a common national life during these 



54 The Problem of Luxemburg 

centtiries of a common foreign domina- 
tion, which tended to blend together 
the people of the different provinces. 
The Pragmatic Sanction recognized them 
as one homogeneous people with central 
institutions at Malines and later at 
Brussels, institutions which served power- 
fully to weld them together. 

The Congress of Vienna (1815) sowed 
the seed of dissension, which in 1839 
bore fruit. The treaty concluded at that 
Congress between the new King of the 
Netherlands, William I, and the Allies, 
determining the borders of the kingdom 
of the Netherlands, excluded from it the 
Duchy of Luxemburg which was erected 
into a Grand Duchy and given to King 
William personally in compensation for 
the provinces of Nassau-Dillenbourg, 
Slegen, Hadamar, and Dietz which fell to 
the King of Prussia. Article III stipu- 
lates that the King of the Netherlands 



Association with Belgium 55 

will bear the title of Grand Duke of 
Liixemburg and authorizes him to make 
with regard to his succession in Luxem- 
burg such family arrangements as he 
might see fit. ''The Grand Duchy of 
Luxemburg, being abandoned to the 
King as a compensation for his Ger- 
man provinces/' the article continued, 
''will enter into the German confedera- 
tion. . . r 

Luxemburg, in spite of the bonds which 
bound the Grand Duke, who was also 
the King of the Netherlands, to the Ger- 
man Confederation, neither belonged to 
the Confederation nor was it autonomous. 
Representatives from Luxemburg sat in 
the parliament of the kingdom of the 
Netherlands with which the Grand Duchy 
had many institutions in common. The 
King referred to Luxemburg as a province 
and not as a state; indeed nobody knew 
just exactly what Luxemburg was then. 



56 The Problem of Luxemburg 

In 1830 the Belgian revolution sepa- 
rated Belgium from Holland. The Ltix- 
emburgers participated in the revolution 
although nominally attached to the Ger- 
man Confederation and until 1839 shared 
the life of the newly born Belgian king- 
dom. At that time, 1839, King William 
I ratified a treaty that had been con- 
cluded in 1 83 1, called the Treaty of the 
Twenty-four Articles, which excluded 
Luxemburg from Belgium. Previously, 
however, the western half of the Grand 
Duchy had been erected into the Belgian 
province of Luxemburg. 

This arrangement, although it gave 
Luxemburg its autonomy, did not accord 
with the wishes of the Luxemburgers. 
The representatives of Luxemburg in the 
Belgian parliament, who sat there until 
1 841, protested energetically against this 
separation. 



Association with Belgium 57 

BELGIAN FRIENDSHIP 

Such a common past of necessity gives 
rise to numerous and strong bonds which 
cannot be severed by factitious creations 
of peace conferences. There have existed 
between Luxemburg and Belgium for two 
thousand years more than neighborly 
relations. And even now Luxemburgers 
enjoy special favor in Belgium. They 
may acquire Belgian citizenship without 
going through formalities and without 
any of the conditions imposed on other 
foreigners. And Luxemburgers are nu- 
merous and frequently very highly placed 
in the Belgian civil, military, and colonial 
service. The Belgian universities educate 
thousands of the Luxemburger youth. 
On the Belgian side of the 129 kilometers 
of common border, we find Luxemburgers 
like ourselves, just as the Belgians find in 
Luxemburg, not foreigners but brothers. 



58 The Problem of Luxemburg 

The character of the inhabitants of Bel- 
gium and Luxemburg exhibit many com- 
mon traits. The Belgians are like the 
Luxemburgers a people of the '* Marches." 
Both are on the border line of the two 
great continental civilizations and are 
influenced by them, and their own civi- 
lization is a blend of both. Indeed it is 
their mission to serve as an intermediary, 
and as a clearing-house, so to speak, 
between the two civilizations. If we 
might be permitted a personal reference, 
we would beg leave to cite in this connec- 
tion our remembrances of the pleasant 
years we spent as a student in Liege 
and Louvain, reminiscences confirmed 
by many of our countrymen who like 
us sat at those shrines of science and 
sanctity in these ancient Belgian cities. 
We all felt perfectly at home there, 
and those among us who later went 
to France, Switzerland, or Germany 



Association with Belgium 59 

to complete our studies were impressed 
by the alien atmosphere of those coun- 
tries. 

After these considerations of a rather 
sentimental nature, the importance of 
which, however, cannot be overlooked, 
let us view the matter from a rational 
standpoint. In the preceding chapter 
we have shown that a Luxemburg en- 
tirely independent would be economic- 
ally speaking an incomplete organism. 
The desire to draw Luxemburg out of 
that fatal economic isolation would dic- 
tate eventually an association with 
Belgium. 

There is no country, except Ger- 
many, that had before the war more 
complete and close economic relations 
with Luxemburg than Belgium and 
there exist no two nations in Europe 
whose economic interests dovetail so 
perfectly. 



6o The Problem of Luxemburg 

ECONOMIC POINT OF VIEW 

Let us consult the statistician and he 
will show us the magnitude and complex- 
ity of the economic relations between 
Belgium and Luxemburg. Even when 
Luxemburg was a party to the ZoUverein, 
and when Germany supplied Luxemburg 
with most of her manufactured products, 
she imported from Belgium great quanti- 
ties of numerous products. Statistics 
show that Belgium furnished Luxemburg 
in 1 91 3 with 315,905 tons of coal; 
2,382,759 klg. of oils; 105,477,503 klg. 
of lime; 9,385,740 klg. of cement; 1,104,- 
745 klg. of forage; 361,331 klg. of tobacco; 
523,575 klg of tanner's bark; 3,513,233 klg. 
of hides for tanning industry; 121,416 klg. 
of wool; 83,721 klg. cotton; 17,256,696 
klg. of wheat; 2,654,153 klg. of barley; 
13,957,825 klg. of potatoes, etc., etc. 

These products embrace so many differ- 



Association with Belgium 6i 

ent aspects of the economic life of Luxem- 
burg that one may hope that, upon the 
cessation of Germany's economic domina- 
tion, Belgium will furnish Luxemburg, 
not only with greater quantities but also 
with many other products, which owing 
to the ZoUverein Luxemburg imported 
from Germany. 

Economically, Luxemburg and Belgium 
make a perfect match and ought to be 
married ; they mutually complement each 
other from an economically essential 
point of view. Luxemburg produces iron, 
the manufacture of which requires coal, 
and Belgium produces coal, essential for 
the manufacture of iron. Indeed, Bel- 
gitim and Luxemburg might say to each 
other in the words of the fable of The 
Blind and the Paralytic, by the ''grand 
Bonhomme" Lafontaine, ''You shall see 
for me and I shall walk for you.'' The 
Belgian industrial institutions have more- 



62 The Problem of Luxemburg 

over such a need of the iron mines of 
Luxemburg that before the war some of 
them had acquired possession of several 
of the Luxemburger mines, and in the 
words of a notable Belgian manufacturer 
the iron region of Luxemburg is the 
natural complement of the industrial 
region of the Meuse. 

INNUMERABLE ADVANTAGES 

In a foregoing chapter, in which we 
analyzed the hypothesis of the complete 
political and economic independence of 
the Grand Duchy, we showed that before 
the war Luxemburg maintained no repre- 
sentatives in foreign countries except in 
Paris, Brussels, and Berlin and indeed 
could not for reason of poverty of means. 
And yet the war has taught us how neces- 
sary the diplomatic and consular institu- 
tions are to a country. Not only the 



Association with Belgium 63 

Luxemburgers, whom the war has kept 
afar from the native soil, but the Grand 
Duchy itself learned during the war to 
regret dearly the lack of adequate diplo- 
matic and consular representation, espe- 
cially in matters of food supply. With an 
association with Belgium, that difficulty 
would vanish. 

Indeed the association with Belgiimi 
would mean participation in all the rights 
and privileges of Belgian citizens. Let 
us emmierate some of these: Belgitmi has 
magnificent universities; technical, scien- 
tific institutions of all sorts; splendidly 
equipped chambers of commerce; com- 
mercial commissions of investigation like 
the *^ commission sino-belge," the ''com- 
mission belgo-russe, ' ' the ' ' commission 
belgo-am^ricaine" ; opportunities for bril- 
liant careers in civil, military, diplomatic, 
and colonial service and among innumer- 
able other benefits the port of Antwerp, 



64 The Problem of Luxemburg 

the finest in Europe, none of which tran- 
scendent advantages does Luxemburg 
enjoy and all of which she would acquire 
by an association with Belgium. 

THE BELGIAN CONGO 

Besides, Belgium has in the Congo one 
of the richest and most magnificent colo- 
nies possessed by any nation in the world. 
M. Gerard, the former French ambas- 
sador to Belgitmi, has recently written 
a notable article in the Revue Hehdoma- 
daire wherein he unfolds the magnificent 
possibilities of that vast tract of land. 
To sum up briefly the findings of statisti- 
cians in that colony, we might say with- 
out the slightest exaggeration that the 
former Congo Free State is at least as 
rich in natural resources as all of Europe, 
and in territory more than half as large. 
Luxemburg, of course, by association 



Association with Belgium 65 

with Belgium would share on equal terms 
with Belgium the advantages accruing 
from the possession of so magnificent a 
colony. 

Luxemburg's terra irredenta 

Moreover, by association with Bel- 
gium Luxemburg would be in better posi- 
tion to claim the return of her ''Terra 
Irredenta'' and a rectification of the in- 
justice done her in 181 5 when the pres- 
ent Prussian counties of Saint Vith, 
Schleiden, Cronenburg, Bitburg, a large 
section along the right bank of the Mosel 
and the region of Viltingen on the Sarre 
were torn away from the Duchy of 
Ltixemburg. Without any justification 
whatsoever except dynastic interest, the 
Congress of Vienna transferred these 
territories to Prussia. There still exists 
to-day a great sympathy and a well- 



66 The Problem of Luxemburg 

defined identity of character between the 
inhabitants of these counties and the 
Luxemburgers. To-day, more than a 
hundred years after this injustice, the 
Luxemburgers have in their dialect an 
expressive term to designate their lost 
brethren. They call them Musspreisen, 
which does not mean ''Musty Prussians'' 
as some might think, but ''Prussians by 
force." Now that so many injustices 
committed by Prussia in the past are 
going to be put right, would it not be 
natural and fair that Luxemburg should 
recover her lost provinces and reunite 
brethren torn asunder by brutal violence? 
Incidentally it would weaken Germany 
and strengthen the Entente and indirectly 
reward Belgium for the glorious services 
that her heroic valor has contributed to 
the cause of freedom and himianity. 







SOHAf. 



Territory Taken by Prussia in 1815 
67 



A MODE OF ASSOCIATION WITH 
BELGIUM 



THE ''BELGO-LUXEMBURGER UNION " 



D Y a sincere and conscientious analysis 
of the different possibilities we have 
arrived at length at the conclusion that 
the future welfare of Luxemburg lies in 
an association with Belgium. We shall 
now consider some of the circumstances 
of the projected rapprochement. 

From what we have said in the preced- 
ing chapters, it clearly follows that com- 
mon economic and military regime, always, 
however, preserving the national life of 
Luxemburg as a separate organism, must 
form the basis of an tmderstanding be- 

69 



70 The Problem of Luxemburg 

tween Ltixemburg and Belgium. Be it 
said right here, to tranquiUize those who 
see the ghost of Prussianism in every 
miHtary estabhshment, that the military 
accord between the two countries would 
not necessarily involve universal military 
service for the Luxemburgers ; although 
it is pretty generally believed that a 
certain amount of military training has 
the most salutary effect on the youth of 
a country. My experiences, while teach- 
ing in a military college, have fully con- 
vinced me of this fact. The general 
agitation against military armaments will 
probably result in greatly reduced military 
service consisting of a mitigated form of 
conscription or in a simple voluntary 
system, destined to furnish a restricted 
contingent necessary for the preservation 
of order. The natural result of an asso- 
ciation of the two countries will be a 
merging of their foreign relations. It 



Mode of Association 71 

will furthermore mean a transfer of the 
railways from Prussia to Belgium which 
country, by the way, has one of the finest 
and best equipped railway systems of 
Europe. 

The formula that would govern this 
relationship between the two countries 
cannot be better expressed than in the 
words : ' ' Belgo - Luxemburger Union. ' ' 
The projected Union according to terms 
previously agreed upon will preserve to 
Luxemburg the separate national life 
impossible for her to maintain of herself. 
Interests common to the two countries 
will be pooled, specific national interests 
will be managed separately by their 
respective governments. Observe, that 
the Union is by no means an annexation 
because it preserves the specific national 
life and it is more than an alliance be- 
cause it merges permanently the common 
interests of the two governments. Lux- 



12 The Problem of Luxemburg 

emburgers have a national individuality 
too vigorous, too clear-cut, too highly 
developed, to submit willingly to any 
arrangement that would not recognize 
their country as a separate organism. 
But they realize also that it would be 
contrary to their best interests and highly 
dangerous to enter into a mere alliance 
that would make them a football for the 
interests of their powerful neighbors and 
leave them in constant and grave danger 
of absorption. 

ADMINISTRATION OF THE UNION 

An association of the two countries 
based on these principles may certainly 
be realized in many different ways. 
Friendly discussions between the parties 
interested cannot fail to disclose a working 
arrangement satisfactory to both. May 
we anticipate a discussion of such an 



Mode of Association 73 

arrangement? Before doing so, however, 
let us add that any projected system will 
be susceptible of considerable emenda- 
tion, for experience alone will perfect the 
details. 

In any proposed association the Grand 
Duchy of Luxemburg must retain her su- 
premacy in all spheres not common with 
Belgium. Luxemburg would therefore 
have her own sovereign, her parliament, 
her government, her budget, etc. For the 
administration of the prerogatives aban- 
doned to the Union there would be con- 
stituted some sort of Federal Authority, 
the executive power of which would rest 
with the King of the Belgians. A Federal 
Government consisting of Belgian Minis- 
ters and Secretaries of State for Luxem- 
burg would be created to administer the 
common interests. The Secretaries of 
State for Luxemburg would be respons- 
ible to a legislative body whose members 



74 The Problem of Luxemburg 

would be selected by the Parliament of 
Luxemburg and revocable by it. This 
legislative body, possessing the right of 
initiative, should be small and its logical 
seat would be in Brussels where the 
Federal Government would also reside. 
In order that laws concerning common 
interests be binding for Luxemburg, they 
would have to be passed by that legisla- 
tive body, signed by the King, and coun- 
tersigned by the Secretary of State for 
Luxemburg whose department the pro- 
jected law would concern. Similarly a 
royal proclamation concerning both coun- 
tries would have to bear the signatures 
of the Secretaries of State for Luxemburg 
as well as those of the King and the Bel- 
gian Ministers. The Secretaries of State 
for Luxemburg would assist the different 
departments of the Belgian Government 
dealing with common interests; namely, 
as regards : 



Mode of Association 75 

The Department of Foreign Affairs ; 

The Department of War; 

The Department of Finances, as far 
as customs and excise are concerned; 
and 

The Department of Railways. 

CONCLUSION 

Such in short we would suggest as the 
policy best calculated to promote the 
interests of the Luxemburgers. We do 
not presume to go into detail as the details 
only experience and expert knowledge 
can determine, to neither of which do we 
pretend. To be sure, it is a radical 
change and there may arise at first some 
difficulty of adjustment to the new con- 
ditions. But whatever difficulty there 
may be in the settlement, we are certain 
time and a moderate amount of patience 
and of courage will surmount. At any 



76 The Problem of Luxemburg 

rate, whatever the difficulty, the change 
must be made. Sentiment, reason, and 
interest demand it. We do not want 
to be French, and frankly, that is what 
any connection with France would mean. 
But we cannot exist alone, we need 
association to complete the insufficiency 
of our economic and political life, and 
Belgium supplies us with that necessary 
complement; Belgiimi is kindred in race, 
has parallel interests, common aspira- 
tions, and identical sympathies. There- 
fore, sentiment, reason, and interest point 
to the ''Belgo-Luxemburger Union'' as 
the best solution to the problem now 
confronting Luxemburg. 



FINIS 



Reproduction of Some of the Petitions 
Signed in 1839 Throughout the 
Grand Duchy of Luxemburg 
as a Protest Against Sepa- 
ration from Belgium 



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